Till The Next Time
by Ghostsammeo
Summary: On a sports retreat trip to sunny Spain with her university, the last person Sakura expected to come across in her hotel was her thirteen year old self's ultimate love: Sasuke Uchiha. Falling in love again is hard, especially with someone like Sasuke, but the relaxed party atmosphere of the trip certainly helps. ( Romcom AU)
1. The Boy in The Hall

_Till The Next Time_

 _1\. The Boy in the Hall_

* * *

Cool air.

Cool air was what Sakura craved, and luckily, very soon, cool air she would be blessed with, as the looming glassed building of the hotel was coming closer and closer. She could almost imagine that breeze of air conditioning hitting her as she stepped through the automatic doors and into the foyer. She could picture the attractive Spanish porter coming to take her heavy suitcase away for her, and she could picture finally getting to just lie down on a bed and rest. For now though, for the next five minutes at least, she had to cope with the Mediterranean summer sun beating down upon her, she had to cope with lugging her suitcase across the cobble-y old Spanish street, and she had to cope with having an annoying singing Naruto in her presence rather than an attractive Spanish porter who in her head was named Raul.

"We're all going on a summer holiday! Something something something, something else!"

"Naruto!" Ino, walking next to Sakura and looking all the more irritable, spat, "The next line is 'no more working for a week or two', and please, shut the hell up."

Naruto's singing ceased, and for a moment only the sound of some background chatter from some other students and the roll of suitcase wheels could be heard, before Kiba suddenly jumped forwards, singing his own song that he pretty much had not stopped singing since he had worked out the lyrics whilst sat on the plane.

"We're the Konoha Uni Soccer team! Lads so hot that we give off steam! We play so well on the field! To us all the girls' hearts will yield!"

He began to clap and Naruto joint in excitedly.

"We're the Konoha Uni Soccer team! Lads so hot that we give off steam! We play so well on the field! To us all the girls' hearts will yield!"

"Oh lord," Ino muttered, before once again turning to the team of soccer players, "Hey, shut up! You're embarrassing everybody!"

Kiba seemed uncaring at getting told off by his fellow student, as he began to blabber on about what he was going to do with his time for the next week or so. "This is going to be so gooood! We're gonna go out drinking all the time, we can go to the beach, we can go swimming, we're gonna get with so many girls, you better believe it Naruto buddy, we're going to-"

"Play some soccer?" Sakura put in, "You managed to mention it in your annoying song there, so I hope you guys are actually gonna turn up for your matches."

"Of course we shall Sakura!" Rock Lee, walking besides Kiba and Naruto with the rest of the soccer team, exclaimed, his fist raised with his strange but typical air of determination, "We shall win every game we play in, for the glory of our great university!"

Kiba blew out some air from his nose, "No, we're going to party all day and yeah, occasionally we'll go and play some soccer."

Sakura frowned, "Well the Table Tennis team are at least going to put some effort into our games."

Ino initially went to agree but then turned with wide eyes to her friend, sparing a glance back at their coach Kurenai and the rest of the team walking in step behind them both, "Whoah, well Sakura, I mean, these sport retreat things **are** just for partying you know. Kiba is right. I'm not doing any training or anything."

Sakura shook her head, "I'm not saying we're not going to have a good time Ino, I'm saying that we're at least gonna turn up sober to all of our matches, unlike that team of idiots."

Sakura nodded at the soccer team, who, besides Shikamaru, Shino, and team Captain Neji, had broken into Kiba's song again, Naruto at present attempting to freestyle rap a verse after Kiba's perfected one.

Ino watched the boys for a second, before cocking her head and saying quickly, "Yeah, fair enough."

A couple more minutes of singing and uncomfortable stares from locals later, all the sports teams finally arrived at their hotel, beginning at last the annual sports retreat that university teams across the country were granted. The foyer and welcoming blast of cool air were as Sakura expected, though to her disappointment no Raul arrived to take her luggage away. The hotel itself was really quite modern, especially compared to the little village they had walked through to reach it. Glass acted as the walling so the beautiful evening outside remained on show, and the general spaciousness and cleanliness of the place meant it, on appearance at least, was living up to its four star rating.

"Alright, everybody just wait about for a moment, I'll check us all in and give out your keys."

This was the voice of Kakashi, the Konoha University Sports Head Officer. The man moved through the crowd of chattering students and over to the welcome desk on the right, where a pretty and petit Spanish lady waited for him.

"So when's our first tournament Kurenai?"

It was Hinata who was asking. Sakura and Ino turned from their own conversation to hear. Kurenai looked from her mobile, elbow rested on her giant suitcase.

"Oh, two days' time, on Wednesday. So don't go partying too hard on the Tuesday night girls, okay?"

TenTen, Hinata, Sakura, and Ino each nodded.

"And what about us Coach Guy? When is the soccer team's first tournament?"

Guy, who was stood next to Kurenai, looked to his student and gave him a thumbs up accompanied by a sparkly white grin, "Our first tournament is on Wednesday as well Lee. You'll be playing a University Team from Belgium. And guess what?"

Lee's eyes were wide and sparkled with anticipation, "What Coach Guy, what?"

Guy smirked, "I want us to WIIIIIIN!"

Whilst shouting out this extended 'win!' Guy rushed forwards and into the crowd of his soccer team, pointing dramatically into the air. Besides Lee, who was watching his coach with complete and utter admiration, the others all spared lazy glances over to him, before returning to their respective conversations. Evidentially, they were all quite used to his over the top optimism by now, to the degree that they barely even registered it when he went flying through the air shouting at the top of his voice.

Asuma, coach of the American Football team, moved over next to Kurenai, itching at his beard as he watched Guy's antics, "Wow, Guy's actually making me feel a bit bad about what I'm going to be doing on this retreat."

Kurenai flashed him a smile, "And what will you be doing on this retreat?"

Sakura and Ino shared a mock grossed out look at the burgeoning flirting.

"Oh you know, just sitting about smoking, plan to spend a lot of time in bed actually. I certainly won't be with my team, because I'm fairly certain they're not turning up to any games anyway."

After more chatter and a needlessly long and complicated key handout system, Sakura finally found herself in the elevator with the rest of the team, zooming upwards to floor three and room three hundred and sixteen, which she would be sharing with Ino.

"What room is your floor on Kurenai?" Tenten asked conversationally as they waited, and as Kurenai went to answer added cheekily, "If you've got your own room and aren't sharing with Coach Asuma, that is."

The doors pinged open to reveal a red carpeted corridor, and a red faced Kurenai pushed the girls out of the elevator. "Shut up, I've told you nothing's happening there and that it's not any of your business."

The doors to the elevator closed to the sound of Kurenai's annoyed muttering, and on turning Ino yet out a loud squeal of celebration.

"Wooooooo! I'm so excited!"

She rushed off towards room 316, which was only a couple of doors away from the elevator, and with her keycard quickly opened it and zoomed in, luggage in toe. With a 'see ya later' to Hinata and Tenten, who were in room 314, Sakura followed her inside the room.

It was nice, albeit simple. Two double sized beds, a shiny on-suite with bath and shower, and a flat screen TV pushed against the wall. Ino had already thrown her suitcase by the right hand side bed and marched over to the windows, which opened up fully to reveal a small balcony. The orange sun was lowering in the sky now, and Sakura enjoyed the hot yet soothing blast of outdoor air when Ino opened this all up.

"Nice view, nice view," Ino commented with a nod.

Sakura came to her shoulder and peered out. They overlooked two outdoor swimming pools, one smaller and one larger. Some sport courts were hidden behind some shrubbery behind all this, and the ground was made up of thick sandy coloured slabs of stone. Two men, older than the two girls, perhaps in their early to mid-twenties, splashed and played in the pool.

"Well hello," Ino purred when she noticed the two properly, "I wonder in which room **those two** are staying."

Following the usual process of settling into a hotel room, which for Sakura was unpacking her clothes and for Ino was flicking through all the channels on the television and laughing at the poorly dubbed Spanish voices over originally English speaking shows, the two students were finally ready to go and explore the hotel. They had been told on the coach from the airport to the hotel that the first day was up to them completely, though they had all been asked not to go out drinking, at least just yet. It was not an instruction Sakura expected any of the teams to really follow.

"So," said Ino as they moved out of the room and into the corridor, "What shall we do first?"

"Well everything of interest like the bar and the gym and sports rooms are on the ground floor, so let's head down there."

They did so, taking the elevator down with two fellow Konoha University students that they didn't know, who through a short and courteous conversation transpired to be on the lacrosse team (a team and sport Ino did not know existed), and arrived back down in the foyer. Moving through here they found the brightly lit bar, which through double doors gave one exit out to the outdoor pools. The seating was to the left and a dark wooded and very long bar lay to the right. Here in a booth table, drinks in front of them, was the soccer team. Sakura and Ino moved over to them.

"You guys starting the party already?" Ino questioned, coming to a stop and leaning on the booth part above Neji's head.

"The beer here is so cheap!" Choji enthused, gulping down his pint in one.

"You not?" returned Kiba to Ino, before taking a gulp of his own beer.

"Everybody is going out tonight!" Naruto exclaimed, "There's a tourist party strip area just like five minutes down the road from here. Most of the teams are going out. Apparently there's some other University teams here too!"

"Oh god," Sakura pulled a face, "That's the last thing we need. You guys don't go starting any fights, okay?"

"The only fighting we shall be doing is on the field!" Rock Lee declared, making Kiba sigh loudly.

"Noooo! God Lee no, we are not here to play soccer, when will you get that in your head?"

"Have all the fun you want Kiba," Neji waded in, "Just make sure you turn up and can kick a ball straight for the tournament days. It's all just friendlies I know, but I don't want my team being embarrassed."

"Got ya' Cap," Kiba saluted.

"It's not like the other teams won't be massively hungover either you know?" Shikamaru added, mostly directed to Lee.

Lee nodded vigorously, "I know! But there may be some dedicated soul out there like me who will put his one hundred percent into the game! I cannot dishonour him by turning up unfit for the match!"

"So just let this imaginary guy dribble past us and score all the goals he wants, it'll be good for his ego," Choji shrugged.

"No! You do not understand!" Lee began to detest, as Sakura in her head pictured Rock Lee then a clone Rock Lee, just with longer hair and different coloured clothing, being the only two on the soccer field to actually be able to run, with all other players slumped on the floor in alcohol induced catatonic states.

At this point Shino stood up to move and Kiba dragged him back down by the wrist. "Woah there Shino, you slow down. We all know how you get with your drink."

Shino sat back down and pushed up his sunglasses, frowning at not being allowed to get himself a second drink.

"Well anyway, we'll think about going out," Ino said, "We're actually just exploring the hotel for now."

With a wave the two girls set off, now intent on finding the indoor sporting area.

After a quick wander (which apparently, judging by the amount of young faces wandering about, many other students had decided to do too) the two found the sports area. There were indoor tennis courts, it transpired, indoor five aside soccer pitches, and much to both girls' delight, a whole hall full of only Table Tennis tables.

Stepping into this darkened Table Tennis hall, Sakura grinned.

"We could just play all our games in here, instead of travelling everywhere. That'd make things easier!"

"This is awesome," Ino commented, picking up a ball and a small red and black bat that both lay on the nearest table, and knocking this ball up and down absentmindedly.

The two walked down the hall, simply looking about, when suddenly the echo of voices joint the echo of their footsteps and the ping and pong of Ino's keepie-uppies. They both twisted around to see walking through the doors was four people.

They were each their own age, but Sakura and Ino didn't recognise them as students from their own university. The first one through the doors with longish white hair was laughing jovially, followed by an annoyed looking red haired girl with glasses, who when she got into the room hit her counterpart across the head, shouting out something about growing up. Next through the doors was a tall ginger boy, who watched the interaction in front of him with a slight smile and then last… last.

Sakura audibly gasped.

"Ino!" She whisper hissed, quickly turning her back on the new arrivals across the hall and grabbing Ino by the arm and forcing her to do the same, "Ino!"

"What? What's wrong?" Ino whispered urgently back, confused as to what was happening.

"That boy. The one with black hair. Is that… Is that Sasuke Uchiha?"

"Sasuke Uchiha?" Ino repeated louder, and she turned around, quickly studying the new people in the hall who had only now seemed to notice Ino and Sakura, though they made no move to acknowledge their presence yet.

After a quick look Ino turned back around to Sakura, whose shoulders were hunched, her head lowered. "Oh my fucking god forehead. That's actually him isn't?"

Sakura's face burned, "Yes! Yes I think it fucking is!"

Ino seemed unaware of Sakura's worry, and she turned again to look at him, "Well, let's go say hello."

"No!" Sakura yelped, tugging Ino back around, "No, no, no. We can't."

"Why not?" Ino questioned, loosening herself out of Sakura's grip, "We haven't seen that guy since he was like thirteen, and by the looks of things he's definitely retained his unbelievable demon angel super sexy beautifulness. Come on, let's go talk to him."

"No!" Sakura asserted, louder this time, so loud that Sasuke and his friends down the hall, who had begun to mess about with one of the tables, glanced both girls' way.

"Let's go! Now!" Sakura decided.

Holding onto Ino's arm she moved to the door closest, pushing through and into an indoor basketball court. Some of Konoha Universities basketballers that the girls' didn't know well were here, and hurriedly Sakura pulled Ino away from this side of the hotel and eventually back to the foyer, where finally Ino relented and forced the both of them to a stop by the elevators.

"Sakura, what the hell was that about?"

Sakura's head whizzed. He had changed so little but so much. His spiked hair was a little longer, his jaw more defined, and his features all matured, but even from across that hall Sakura had seen his eyes. Those deep dark eyes. Both paradoxically so harsh looking yet at the same time so soft. Sasuke Uchiha, the boy even at the age of thirteen Sakura was sure she had fallen in love with, was all of a sudden back in her life. This was not expected.

"Sakura," Ino said, hands on hips as she waited for a response.

Sakura looked into the blueness of her best friend's eyes, struggling to come out with anything to say.

"I just… I can't see him right now."

Ino frowned and went to rebuke, but Sakura continued, "He just took me by surprise! I wasn't expecting to see the boy I fell so madly in love when I was just a kid at a hotel in Spain at the age of nineteen!"

"Oh come on Forehead," Ino replied, "We were all in love with Sasuke Uchiha. Who didn't love Sasuke Uchiha? Even the older kid's perved on Sasuke Uchiha. Heck, I'd probably still go for thirteen year old Sasuke Uchiha."

"Ino!" Sakura scolded, though she had to hold in a laugh as she did so.

"Okay Sakura, okay. I forgot that he was your little sweetheart for a while when you, him, and Naruto always used to knock about together in Middle School. I get it."

Sakura felt the blood finally start to leave her face as she blew out some air, "Wow. So. Sasuke is here."

"You're acting like it's a bad thing," Ino said with a raised eyebrow as Sakura felt herself calm down, "This is awesome. And as a best friend vow I promise not to go for him on this trip, so he's all yours too."

Sakura nodded slowly, "Alright. I'm good. I'm good now. This is good. Sasuke Uchiha, this is good."

"I on the other hand," Ino said slyly, eyeing up a pale, dark hair boy with a familiar face currently exiting the elevator, "Have other interests anyway."

Sakura took one more deep breath as Ino moved off to talk to this man. She had not anticipated this, but Ino was right. This wasn't a bad thing. Sure, Sasuke Uchiha had only ever seemed to cause her great heartache in the past, but she wasn't some shy, flat, low on confidence, massive foreheaded little girl anymore. And it was likely that Sasuke wouldn't have remained such a… difficult person to love, wasn't it?

Suddenly a night out of heavy drinking with the soccer team didn't seem so bad.

* * *

 _A/N – Yup, another AU SasuSaku. If you at all enjoyed please drop a review and thanks for reading!_


	2. Nightswimming

_Till The Next Time_

 _2\. Nightswimming_

* * *

Sakura sipped on her rum and coke as the base blasted out all around.

She was feeling sort of drunk, maybe, but what use was that when you weren't in the mood to party? Any other boy, sure, she could have probably just got drunk and danced out of her mind, but not Sasuke Uchiha. He remained. A loud and happy shrill brought Sakura out of her thoughts. Looking through the darkness and flashing green laser lights she could just make out the figure of Ino standing up on a podium, dancing away with some stranger.

Sakura sighed, internally resigning to her wallflower and Ino guardian status for the night. Stick to the sides sipping on her drink and making sure Ino didn't go back to the hotel with some creepy dudes. That was now on the night's agenda. Oh, and thinking about Sasuke Uchiha and what she was going to do about Sasuke Uchiha. As of now, Sakura couldn't see that ever not being on the agenda.

"Heeyyyy Sakura."

Naruto fell down onto the black leather seat Sakura was perched on. He nodded his head to the beat of the music, and after downing the rest of his bottle, chucked it onto the nearby table, belching as he did so.

"Hey Naruto," Sakura greeted without much enthusiasm, "Having fun?"

"Yeah, yeah I'm having fun. Just taking a break from dancing. This heat is murder!"

Sakura smiled slightly, "Hm, yeah."

Naruto cocked his head, noting the slowness to her words, "Something up Sakura? You don't feel sick do you? Go to the toilets if you do, don't be the one to ruin it by vomming on the floor. Like, slow down or something."

"This is only my third drink! You must on like your twentieth, slow down yourself! Cha!"

"Alright, alright, so you're not off your head drunk, I'm sorry," Naruto leant back, eyebrows raised, "So what is up?"

Sakura sipped once more on her drink and looked about the dark room of dancing figures. She sighed. "I saw Sasuke Uchiha earlier today."

Naruto's ears seemed to physically perk up like a dog at the name. "Like, **our** Sasuke? You saw our Sasuke?"

Sakura had forgotten that Naruto had loved Sasuke almost as much as her, in an eternal rival brotherly sorta way.

"Err, yeah. Our Sasuke."

Naruto pushed his upper body up and turned side to side in a way that distinctly reminded Sakura of a meerkat. "Is he here?" Naruto asked, scanning the room, "What did you say to him? Where is he?"

"No we didn't speak. I just saw him is all. He's staying at our hotel I think."

Naruto fell to his knees and clasped his hands together in a prayer like motion. At this point Sakura remembered that the boy was likely very drunk.

"I am just… so glad," Naruto mumbled. It looked like tears were almost brimming in his eyes, "That we can see Sasuke again." With sudden speed Naruto jumped from his knees and to his feet, "I need to find him! SASUKEEEEEE I WILL FIND YOU! But first!"

Naruto pointed his hand around the room, his arm extending out almost like a compass pointer searching for north, and he eventually settled on the white glow of the bar, to the side. He moved over to it in a wobbly way, melting away into the dancefloor.

" _Well I'm glad you're taking it so well_ ," Sakura mumbled to herself, before knocking back the rest of her drink.

Sighing Sakura stood, intent on following Naruto to the bar for another drink, but she was distracted when she noted the blonde hair of Ino disappearing out the club entrance. Sighing **again** , Sakura made the push through the crowds to follow her.

The outside street's coolness almost shocked Sakura. She blinked, becoming accustomed to actually being able to hear conversations, her senses flooding back to her. The strip she was on was typical of the clubbing tourist scene. Distant music pounded from inside all the different bars and clubs, bright street lights illuminated the otherwise darkened concrete road, and drunk young men and women moved past in bright clothing, stumbling about the place and enjoying the night. To her left Sakura saw Ino staggering down the street with a guy, and following she picked up on their conversation, well, their argument, really.

"I bet we will destroy you in the tournament! Are you kidding me! We will embarrass you with our Table Tennis skills."

The man walking with Ino replied in an even more slurred voice, "I can't even believe you. Oto University is and always will be better than your rubbish school, we've got… we've got facilities-"

"We've got facilities too, we've got facil…facilities!"

"No, shuh. Shuh, we got, we've got facilities of the highest order. And we have… more talent!"

Sakura, walking at a pace behind the two, was enjoying their drunken conversation. Apparently, this boy Ino was with was a rival Table Tennis player from a different university. It was quite the coincidence really. Either way, Sakura had a duty to make sure Ino knew **exactly** what she was doing **and** where she was going, so the pink hair began to move faster forwards, to catch up with the two of them.

Before she reached them though, another person stepped into view.

"Suigetsu, where did you rush off to? Come on, we're leaving."

Sakura paused short of grabbing Ino. She froze, eyes wide as this person appeared to the side of 'Suigetsu'. Her heart seemed to skip a beat. A haze of shock and confusion seemed to flood her head. She was quite simply left stupefied. Out from a bar at the side, now but a couple feet away, was Sasuke Uchiha.

"I went into… into a club," Suigetsu hiccupped into Sasuke's face, swaying side to side as he spoke.

Sasuke gave the boy a bland look before nodding his head behind himself, "Coach set a curfew for two am for the first night remember? So let's go."

"But Sasukeeeeee, I'm with a lady here!"

"As if you think you were pulling me!" Ino yelped out, in her drunken state apparently not realising it was Sasuke standing in front of her. She tugged away from Suigetsu, looking defiantly forwards down the street.

Sasuke though seemed to notice it was her, as his eyes had moved past Suigetsu and onto Ino. He seemed like he was about to say something as recognition flashed across his face, but then his eyes moved again, over Ino's shoulder and to Sakura, frozen on the spot. The boy stayed looking at Sakura for what felt like an eternity, but for what couldn't have been more than five seconds, and then he let go of Suigetsu's arm and moved past him.

Sakura gulped as he stepped toward her. Was… was this really happening? Or had she drank herself into a happy dream of perfection and demon angel sexy beautifulness?

"Sakura?" His tone was curious, softer than the normal harshness that laced it.

Sakura nodded and then smiled widely, suddenly being unable to contain her pent up excitement at seeing him again, "Yeah!" she exclaimed moving into hug him. She didn't care if she was going full twelve year old fan girl mode. She was a little bit drunk, after all. It could be excused.

He didn't hug back when she gripped him, so she quickly pushed herself off, blushing, but still unable to stop herself smiling.

"Sakura," he said slowly, as ever his expression hard to decipher, "I didn't expect to see you here. I'm guessing you're doing sport for your university then?"

"Y-yes," Sakura stammered, "Sasuke I can't believe it's you. It's been so long! How was the Boarding School you went to? Did you stay in the area? Where do you go to Uni?"

Sakura mentally scolded herself for barraging him with questions.

Sasuke took it in his stride though, raising an eyebrow and answering in his somewhat slow but deliberate intonation. "Yeah it was good I guess. I stayed in the area and am at Oto Uni now. What about yourself?"

"Oh, I stayed where I was too. Konoha Uni! Naruto's here too! And some of the others! We all got in!"

Sakura now mentally scolded herself for shouting everything at him.

He nodded, one eye slightly squinted, "Yeah, I see Ino's there hitting it off with my friend. You all went to the same university then huh? That's pretty weird."

Sakura's face remained a rigid grin, though internally she sank.

"Well," Sasuke then said, turning swiftly around, "I guess I better go keep Suigetsu in line."

Sakura looked down the street where Ino and Suigetsu had continued to wobble onwards, off in the direction of the hotel, which glimmered up on the hill in the distance.

"You coming?"

Sakura met Sasuke's gaze. Her smile remerged and she nodded, moving to keep in step with him. This really was like a dream.

"So," Sasuke said as he walked, hands in the pockets of his dark coloured jeans, "What sport are you doing then? Table Tennis still?"

"Yeah," Sakura answered. She had a brief flashback to the days of school, playing Table Tennis and losing to Sasuke. He had been good at literally everything. "What about yourself?"

"Well I'm in a couple of sports teams," Sasuke replied, "But I'm the captain of the Table Tennis team, so…"

Sakura could have sworn she saw one of Sasuke Uchiha's rarely seen smiles briefly appear on his lips as he waited for her response.

"So… so we'll be playing against each other then, do you think?"

"Yeah."

The two walked on. Sakura still felt the situation unbelievably surreal. The sound of their footsteps, the nearby chirping crickets in the grass by the pavement side, the loud drunken chatter of Ino and Suigetsu turning the corner a couple yards or so in front of them, the delicate heat of the night, it was all so dreamlike. Sasuke had just appeared out of nowhere, and now she was walking with him, to the hotel, and… no, she couldn't get ahead of herself. They were in the process of catching up in the usual way conversations with Sasuke went: slowly and at his own pace. He wasn't back in her life yet.

"You're looking good," Sasuke then chimed in through the silence, and when Sakura's head mechanically shifted to him at the sound of the unexpected compliment, he quickly moved his eyes to the side almost embarrassedly, avoiding her stare, "Erm… since I last saw you."

Sakura didn't really know what that last part even meant, but she chose to ignore it. Had Sasuke just… just complimented her? Had she **ever** in her life received a compliment from Sasuke? Her mind flooded with memories. I mean, he perhaps gave her a well done when she had aced a test, and yeah he had once complimented her on her Table Tennis serving, but on her appearance? Never. To be fair, she thought, she **was** looking good in her little black number, and…

Suddenly realising that she was still just weirdly staring into the side of Sasuke's face, Sakura shook her head and quickly removed her accidentally intense gaze.

"Erm, thanks. Y-you. You look really good too. I like your shirt."

No! Why had she said you look **really** good? He hadn't said she looked **really** good he'd said she was just 'looking good'. And what was the shirt compliment about? Yeah it was a nice white shirt, the guy was dressed well, but compliment his fucking beautiful face not his pretty nice but unremarkable shirt! She tried to calm herself down, she knew she was panicking but she also knew she didn't need to anymore. It wasn't back in school anymore. They were now both adults and they were old friends! She had to act normal!

Sasuke didn't seem to mind, grunting in his typical way, "Hn," and embracing once again some silence.

"I thought it was you, in the hall earlier," He then said.

Sakura's drunken brain tried to process this for a brief second, and then she realised what he was talking about, "Shit! You saw me!"

He definitely smiled this time, a glint of mirth in his eyes.

"Yeah, I saw you. I guess you saw me too then?"

Sakura cringed at what was coming.

"Why'd you run away then?"

"Run away?" Sakura began the covering lie shrilly, "I didn't run away! I just, you know, I wasn't **sure** it was you, and then I realised I was late for something so…"

If there ever was a glimmer of mirth in his eyes, it was gone now, as he turned his head back forwards. Perhaps she was reading too much into it, but she couldn't help but feel he was disappointed in her response. Sakura cursed inwardly. It was probably because she was still acting like her old annoying self again, all flustered. He had clearly grown up, why was she acting like this now? Well, she knew why, but she had to stop!

"So, you're staying in the same hotel then. That's cool," Sakura tried, eager to keep the conversation going.

Sasuke nodded, "Yeah. We're for the week. What about yourself?"

"A week and a bit," Sakura replied, "Although our first tournament is on Wednesday, so free day tomorrow. When are you playing?"

"Tomorrow. Midday," he answered, and smirked ever so when he saw Sakura's expression, "Yeah. It's annoying. That's why I'm heading back to the hotel now."

"Aw, that's a shame. I'm on Ino guard duty, but I wasn't really enjoying myself anyway… and you know…" she trailed off.

Sasuke turned his head to her, "Hm?"

"Well, it's just sorta cool that I met you. Would much rather have bumped into you then stayed out drinking all night."

Sasuke moved his eyes back onto Suigetsu and Ino ahead, but once again, and to Sakura's amazement, he smiled once more. "Yeah, same."

They walked on further, the hotel coming closer and closer as they moved up the upwards sloping road. At last, they arrived back, the doors sliding open to the almost shockingly lit foyer. Suigetsu and Ino stumbled forwards together towards the elevators, still bickering, and to Sakura's surprise, Kiba and Neji stood nearby here, by the entrance to the dining area.

"What are you two doing back?" Sakura questioned upon seeing them. As the two swirled around and Sasuke moved off to help Suigetsu and Ino call down an elevator, Sakura moved to them, "I thought you'd be out enjoying the night."

"We were," replied Neji stonily, and Kiba pointed shortly with his finger into the dining area.

Running amongst the circular tables, round and around in a circle, was a topless Shino, Rock Lee following him round and around in the same pattern, almost like a classic cartoon chase scene. All it really needed was the Benny Hill theme. Sakura turned with a questioning expression back to the two boys.

"It's what he gets like when he's had too much to drink. Like, he'll be on ten beers and a couple shots and he's perfectly fine, but then you call for one more round and bam, he's gone crazy." Kiba explained with a yawn.

Shino now ran towards them, a massive grin on his face, Rock Lee in hot pursuit.

"I am the bug master! The drawn me loves bugs! We're all just words! We're words, we're words!" Shino drunkenly rambled as he ran past and into the foyer.

Sakura turned, "Well, good luck with all this."

"Thanks," Neji returned tiresomely, but then added as Sakura walked off, "Hey, is that Sasuke Uchiha?"

But Sakura had already moved out of earshot. Sasuke, Ino, and Suigetsu waited in the elevator for her, Sasuke keeping the doors open with a press of a button. She smiled as she stepped in, and Ino seemed to shriek with joy when she noticed in was Sakura.

"It's you!" Ino shouted, falling to lean on Sakura's shoulders, "Where have you been I haven't seen you all night!?"

"I've been… about," Sakura answered, and shared a small smile with Sasuke.

"Well you should have been about me instead," Ino drawled on, "Now listen, I have a question. I've gone back with this boy, but I'm wondering if I should **go** back with this boy? You know?"

"I don't think you wanna be going anywhere with this boy Ino."

Ino followed Sakura's nod of the head to look at Suigetsu slumped in the corner of the elevator, looking almost comatose, with a dribble of spit hanging from his chin.

"He had a lot of tequila," Sasuke said shortly after noticing him.

The doors then pinged open to the third floor and Sakura helped a stumbling Ino out into the corridor, Ino's arm uselessly extended out towards their door, as if she could reach it from where she was. Sakura turned to Sasuke, suddenly worrying that this would be the end of their interaction. He himself stood looking cool as ever, and with a bob of his head, pressed a button.

"See you in a bit," he said as the doors closed, and Sakura barely got to say anything back.

Was it seriously a 'and just like that, he was gone' situation? Was that what just happened.

"Pooey," Sakura said, before helping Ino over to the room, as the blonde mumbled incoherent drunken nothingness out at the pinkette. Pushing open the door Sakura brought Ino over to her bed, who collapsed very quickly and began to hug her pillow. She was out for the count.

Sakura went about the classic routine. She poured out a glass of water and left it by Ino's bedside table, found a plastic bowl of some description and tucked it in by Ino's arms in case of an emergency vomit session, and then tucked the girl in. It was all done with muscle memory really, her mind was on Sasuke.

"Sakura," Ino's croaky voice then sounded out.

Sakura, who had been out standing on the balcony, watching the glimmer and shine of the pool's underwater lights, turned and moved back into the room. "Yeah Ino?"

"Did you ever find Sasuke today?"

Sakura perched herself at the end of Ino's bed. "Yeah, yeah I did."

Ino's quiet voice went on, "Did you have his babies?"

Sakura laughed lightly and shook her head, "No. No I did not."

"Okay… night night."

"Sleep well Ino."

Then, a knock at the door.

Sakura, who had just moved over to her bed intent on sleeping off any chance of a hangover, frowned and went to the door. Had Tenten or Hinata forgotten their keycard or something? She pulled it open, still frowning, only to see not Tenten or Hinata, but Sasuke, his hand on his hip as he waited.

"Thank god you were in this one. I thought I saw you move over to it before the doors closed."

"Sasuke," Sakura said, blinking dumbly, "Hello… again."

"Hello again," Sasuke nodded back. Because it was Sasuke and said in his Sasuke voice, Sakura couldn't tell if he was being funny and flirting, or sincerely saying 'hello again', but either way she didn't care.

"What's up? Suigetsu okay?"

"Vomiting into the toilet when I left him," Sasuke shrugged, "Figured I'd come down and do something with you, seeing as I'm not tired or anything," for some reason Sakura couldn't tell, he glanced to the side in the same embarrassed way as before, and then added slowly, "And you know, because we didn't really get to catch up properly."

"Yeah," Sakura grinned, "Yeah that sounds good with me."

He nodded once again and after rushing into the room to grab her keycard, she followed Sasuke over to elevators, where once inside he pressed down for the ground floor. The foyer was empty now when they arrived, meaning that either Neji, Kiba, and Lee had stopped the drunk Shino scourge or it had simply moved to another area.

"Was that Shino, by the way… earlier?" Sasuke asked with a short smile as he led Sakura over to some doors on the opposite side of the foyer. It transpired that they led out to the pool area, which had a magical blue fluoresce to it, small circular lights on the ground all around lighting the way in the darkness.

"Yeah, apparently that's what he's like when's drunk. Wouldn't have imagined that from his thirteen year old self, huh?"

Sasuke pushed some air out of his nose as he laughed shortly, and seeing him smile like this, Sakura began to laugh too. Laughing together, they then sat, Sasuke pushing his jean legs up and removing his socks and shoes, and dangling his feet into the water. Sakura followed suit, removing her flats, and soon they both sat in the peaceful tranquillity of the poolside.

"So what about Naruto? Is he still a total loser?" Sasuke then asked, smiling slightly still.

"Oh yeah," Sakura laughed, "But he's as loveable as always, and you know, he worked really hard to make it into Konoha Uni. Once he realised a couple of us were applying there, he really got to work. I can't remember his results, but he did well."

"Fair enough," Sasuke commented.

"But, I mean, he's still a total idiot. It's Naruto, so…"

Sasuke smirked, "Yeah. Of course… I'd like to see him. It's been a long time."

"Yeah… we missed you. I missed you."

Sasuke nodded slowly, looking out across the water, apparently choosing not to indulge Sakura in her more 'emotional' train of conversation. He then turned, "Shikamaru?"

Sakura smiled, cottoning on quickly to what Sasuke was doing. "Yep, he's here. Still lazy."

Sasuke nodded, "Hinata?"

"Yep. Still shy and Naruto obsessed."

"Still?"

"I know right?"

They laughed together, legs kicking in the water.

"Kiba?"

"Loud and obnoxious. Still in love with his dog."

"What about Ino, has she changed?"

"Quite literally no. Well I mean, you saw how she's changed appearance wise."

Sasuke nodded slowly to himself, then turned with a mischievous smirk, "Choji."

Sakura smirked back, "Dare I say it?"

They laughed.

"Yeah, no, still very much… erm, how can I put this?"

"Big boned," tried Sasuke, "A fan of food? A massive fatty?"

"Sasuke!" Sakura exclaimed as the boy laughed, patting him hard on the back as she chuckled.

Too hard.

Way too hard.

There was a slight grunt of annoyance as the boy immediately lost balance and careered downwards, before the loud sounding splash of the water. It sprayed Sakura's face, who stayed completely still, in her head doubting almost that she could do something so obtuse.

There was a short moment and then Sasuke popped his head out from under the water, spitting some water out as he did so. He didn't look impressed, dark eyes staring up at Sakura.

"Sasuke," Sakura gaped, "I am so… Woah! Wowwwww!"

With a tug of her leg Sakura came sliding in too. There was momentarily short period of bubbles and the distinct hum of being underwater, and then she surfaced again, coughing.

"I," she stammered as Sasuke watched her with an almost bemused expression, "My makeup will run! Sasuke!"

The boy raised a teasing eyebrow as he unbuttoned his shirt, throwing it to dry land. He then disappeared underwater for a second, emerging back with his jeans in hand, which then joint his shirt to the side. Sakura gaped forwards at his chest. Lean yet broad. Pale skin Illuminated almost with the light of the water. He ran his hands through his hair, shaking out water, and Sakura felt herself go almost dizzy. Sasuke was once the most attractive boy in the history of ever, he had now successfully evolved into the most attractive man in the history of ever.

His lips pursed together as if going to say something, but he himself looked lost for words. In the same manner as twice before, he looked embarrassedly to the side, eyes averted from Sakura. She wondered why he kept doing that… was he, like, shy?

Sakura didn't know and honestly at the time didn't care, laughing slightly at the situation as a whole she managed to, admittedly very ungracefully, pull off her dress, until she too treaded water in nothing but her underwear. They simply swam there in place, looking forward into each other's eyes, until finally, either alcohol or instinct, Sakura wasn't sure which, took over, and they at the same pushed through the water together, embracing in a kiss.

It was like a blur. And this time, it wasn't purely down to the alcohol. She felt her breasts pressed up against the hardness of his chest, the softness of his lips, the water around them rippling as their heads moved with the flow of the passion, but at the same time, it all seemed to fly right over her head, processed by some distant corner of her mind. It was all just so… right.

* * *

"And then?"

Ino, eyes widened, grinned knowingly at Sakura, who sat on the opposite bed, in the process of explaining last night's escapades.

Sakura blushed and shook her head, "And then, that's it. I'm not telling you anymore!"

Ino laughed and jumped onto her bum from her laying position, giggling as she did so along with the squeak of her bed, " _Sakuraaa_ ," she called teasingly, " _Sakuraaaaa_ , did you have romantic swimming pool sex with Sasuke incredibly beautiful _Uchihaaaaa_?"

Sakura blushed even harder and threw her pillow at the girl, hitting her in the face.

It was ten am, both girls having only recently woken up. With a bowl of sick in her arms, and a thumping headache, Ino had asked what exactly had happened the night before. The story she got, was not expected.

"So, that's like so weird though," Ino said, throwing the pillow back Sakura's way, " As incredibly beautiful Sasuke always was, and despite all those really in depth marriage fantasies I used to have about him when I was ten, when it comes down to it I can't **actually** imagine Sasuke being at all… romantic. Like, when did he ever even **laugh** when we were kids? Like, twice. But only ever at Naruto's expense."

She was right, to a degree. Sasuke had always been a sheltered being. He used to like his company most of all and didn't really seem to like anybody else's. His brooding aura was always so oddly charismatic, true, but even to his friends he had had a certain volatile attitude to him. Sakura remembered her parents saying (when they didn't know she was listening) about him that he was a traumatic childhood experience away from being a serious problem child, even with his constantly high grades in school. That said, Sakura thought, he had never been an affectionless kid, and now verging on adulthood he had seemed to develop a more mellow coolness about him. No, Sakura didn't find it odd that he wasn't 'mean', she found it odd that he had deigned to be **so** 'not mean', so to speak, with her!

"Are you seeing him today? Have you arranged anything?" Ino continued after sipping on her water, poured for her the other night.

"Well he's got a tournament midday, so he's probably already gone," Sakura answered, and Ino's eyebrows knitted together.

"Well that was stupid of you," she exclaimed, "You better find him later tonight and do something with him!" She fell back with her head on her pillow, looking up at the fan hanging upon the ceiling, "Sasuke Uchiha. You actually got with Sasuke Uchiha." She propped herself up on her elbow, "You know how lucky you are, right?"

Oh she did. Sakura really, really did. Because this wasn't such a big event for her because she had 'got with' Sasuke Uchiha. She didn't feel so lucky because of what happened between them. She felt lucky because this was the boy she truly, truly had loved when they were kids. Even at that young age, she knew that she had been in love with him. And now, by some quirk of fate, she could fall in love with him all over again.

* * *

 _A/N - Second chapter! Thanks for the reviews and such so far. Keep 'em coming, they really do help!_


	3. The Beach

_Till The Next Time_

 _3\. The Beach_

* * *

"CANNON BALL!"

"Naruto you better not! AH! GOD DAMMIT NARUTO!"

Naruto surfaced from the water, grinning sheepishly up at Ino, who sat on a sun chair by the side of the pool, now soaking wet from the explosion of water.

"YEAH! CANNON BALL!" Choji roared out, but Sakura, basking in the sun on a chair closest to him, extended out a hand and grabbed him, forcing him to a stop.

"Choji, definitely not you!" she said, frowning down at her pink bikini piece that, despite its purpose, she actually didn't want to get wet… though thanks to Naruto that plan, and the plan of staying nice and dry and simply enjoying the sun, had failed.

The students around laughed. It was mid-afternoon, and the Soccer team and Tennis Table team, along with some other teams that were not in the friendship group, had all elected to make use of the fantastic weather and chill out by, or in, the outdoor swimming pool. Besides a few locals, and a few students from presumably another university, they seemed to have it all to themselves, and Naruto was making the most of this fact, splashing about and thoroughly enjoying the pool.

" _I bet he wouldn't be so happy to swim about in that if he knew what happened in it last night_ ," Ino bent to the side to whisper to Sakura, both girls watching Naruto now attempting to pull both Kiba's and Neji's trunks down from underwater (though both boys were perfectly savvy to his obvious attempts).

" _Ino_!" Sakura whisper cried, hitting the other girl on her bare shoulder in response to her lewd joke.

Sakura, after spending the previous night with Sasuke, was yet to see him that day, due to his team's midday tournament. Thinking about it though, Sakura supposed he would have been arriving back at the hotel anytime soon. The girl suddenly began to feel very worried. A drunken night spent together was one thing, but, would they be spending the day together? And how would he react to the others. He knew most of them, after all, and honestly, never particularly liked them.

Almost unbelievably on time, it was at this point that Sakura turned her head to **see** Sasuke **,** standing in blue swimming trunks with an unbuttoned checkered shirt, by the doors to the hotel. With him was Suigetsu, in rather revealing purple speedos, and then two others, the same two from the hall, the red haired girl now wearing a curve flattering red swimsuit, and the large ginger boy in lilac shorts, sandals, and a light white shirt.

" _Ino_ ," Sakura managed to meep out, but Ino had already spotted the group, and she flung a hand up, waving wildly.

"HEY SASUKE! HEY! LONG TIME NO SEE! COME OVER HERE!"

The Konoha Uni students turned to follow her gaze, quite a few seemingly very surprised to see their old school mate Sasuke. None more so than Naruto however, who gazed at him with an unreadable expression from the pool. Sasuke himself seemed to just frown forwards, his eyes eventually landing on Sakura.

"SASUKE!" Naruto roared out, swimming forwards and leaping out of the pool. He bounded ahead, dripping wet, and with a shocking speed Sasuke extended his hands back then pushed out when Naruto arrived in his proximity, sending the boy flying backwards and back into the pool.

The silence from everybody else then became an awkward worried one, as after Naruto's resounding splash the boy emerged back from underwater again, spluttering and swearing. He pointed an aggressive finger up at Sasuke.

"What the hell was that for? Bastard!"

Sasuke smirked back, and with this smirk, Sakura, unlike everybody else, realised the truth in the situation. That was a very specific smirk that Sasuke **only** ever gave to Naruto.

"You were all wet. Incredible, all these years and you're still a complete loser."

Naruto glared up at Sasuke and Sasuke stared back, until finally the Uzumaki exploded out of the pool once more, coming forwards and pushing a fist into Sasuke's face, smiling widely. Sasuke smirked back, and gingerly gave Naruto the fist-bump he desired. Sakura noted he was clearly embarrassed by the greeting, but it was customary between the two, something they both did when they were twelve and using a fist-bump as a hello was cool.

"Okay," Suigetsu said slowly from behind Sasuke as Naruto moved in and hugged the Uchiha, who pushed him away again (though lighter than before) complaining about him making him all wet, "Sasuke, what the heck is going on?"

"Sasuke's my best friend in the whole world! We haven't see each in ageeeees!" Naruto exclaimed, eyes drawing to Suigetsu behind Sasuke's right shoulder, "You in a sports team too then Sasuke!? You on the soccer team? Reckon we'll play!? I'm tons better now, I'm sure I'll be better than you now!"

Sasuke shrugged, sparing a glance over Naruto's shoulder to all the familiar faces all looking up and watching the interaction, "No, Naruto. I'm on the Table Tennis team, I-"

"LIKE SAKURA!" Naruto cut through loudly, "Hey Sakura come over here, it's Sasuke!"

"Naruto," Sakura said slowly, struggling to pull her eyes away from Sasuke, "I told you Sasuke was here last night, remember?"

"No," Naruto blinked, looking between the two, "You knew I wouldn't remember! I woke up half naked in a bush ten miles from the hotel after all! Why didn't you tell me about him being here earlier today!?"

Sakura blushed as Ino smirked her way. There was a very certain reason Sakura had not mentioned Sasuke to anybody else.

"Ugh, this guy is so annoying," Karin muttered to the side of Sasuke. Before an appalled looking Naruto could respond, her eyes slid over to Sakura, "So you're Konoha Uni's Table Tennis team? When's your next tournament?"

Ino jumped up, dragging Hinata and Tenten forwards with her arms pulled around their shoulders, "Yeah! We're the Table Tennis Team! And we're playing tomorrow!"

Sakura smiled. Ino was both a player for the team and a cheerleader at times.

"Oh shit, it's you," Suigetsu grinned once he noticed Ino, cutting in before Karin's response.

The blonde turned with a raised eyebrow, but then nodded, looking at Suigetsu with an amused expression, "Oh yeah, you. What's with the speedos?"

"Suigetsu likes to think he's funny, so only packed speedos as swimwear so he could show off," Karin put in, and Suigetsu scowled her way as he moved over to the pool.

"Actually Suigetsu's a swimmer, and if Oto University had a swim team would have joined it in a second. _Especially to get away from your annoying ass_."

The boy then dived into the pool, popping back up next to Kiba, Neji, and Rock Lee, who treaded water in the deep end, seemingly feeling a bit awkward and not knowing if they had to go talk to Sasuke or not.

They didn't have to in the end though, as Naruto quickly took Sasuke by the arm and lead him around the pool, reintroducing him to all of his friends. After ten minutes of awkward hellos and forced conversation, Sasuke finally managed to pull himself away from Naruto (who went back to join in a Rock Lee proposed swimming competition) and sat himself down next to Sakura in a sun chair, Karin and Juugo plopping down next to him on his right. Sakura noted with both curiosity and annoyance as the red hair pushed her chair to be closer to the boy.

"H-how did it go then?" Sakura asked as Sasuke stretched out his legs. Ino peered over her to join in the conversation, as Hinata and Tenten beside her watched the swimming pool race that Suigetsu was currently winning (with Naruto suddenly pulling up a cramp and nearly drowning himself in the middle).

"I won all my matches," Sasuke answered, "But we finished second."

"Sasuke was amazing," Karin cooed, placing a hand on Sasuke's shoulder. Sakura noted Ino shuffle next to her, "I lost one of my games, and Suigetsu lost like three, which is why we didn't win it overall."

"I won all of mine," Juugo added quietly to the side of her.

"Yeah," Karin nodded dismissively, then turned her head back to Sasuke, "But you did really good Sasuke."

Sasuke shrugged, and with this shrug, managed to move the girl's shoulder off of himself.

"And who are you exactly?"

Sakura chewed at the inside of her mouth. Ino, Sakura figured, had probably noticed this girl's subtle Sasuke orientated movements too, and so was taking a somewhat standoffish attitude.

"Karin. And this is Juugo," Karin answered, before raising an eyebrow, "And you guys?"

"Ino Yamanaka. These two are Hinata and Tenten and this is Sakura. She and Sasuke go way back. Well, we all go way back with Sasuke."

"Hmm," Karin said, "He's never mentioned any of you."

Sakura gave this Karin a secret glare. Who was this girl exactly and why had she moved her hand onto his shoulder **again**?

"So, Sakura."

Sakura was drawn out of her thoughts by Sasuke. He had turned his head to the girl. "What are you guys doing later tonight?"

"Just… chilling," Sakura replied, "There's a tournament tomorrow for us and most of the other teams, so no wild nights out or anything."

"Hm. We've got a tournament as well. We were all planning on going down to the nearby beach actually, when it gets dark." Behind her glasses Karin's eyes seemed to light up dangerously as Sasuke revealed all this, "It'd be cool if you guys came down. Don't really get on with the other teams from Oto."

"Beach party?" Kiba called from the pool, clearly overhearing the conversation, "That's a great idea Uchiha! The Konoha Soccer Team will be there!"

"We could have a match of Tennis Soccer! The perfect beach game!" Rock Lee nodded feverously, and Suigetsu, who was clearly getting on somewhat well with the team, nodded.

"Yeah, you guys should definitely all come. Our own soccer team are full of absolute dicks."

"YES!" Naruto roared, splashing about, "SASUKKKKE!"

He waited for a response. Sasuke stared down at him blankly. "What?"

"Will you play? Say you'll play! I can't wait to beat you at it!"

Sasuke's shoulders moved heavily upwards, and after sharing a secret smile with Sakura, as the whole conversation was extremely reminiscent of their past days spent together, he said, "You've never beaten me at anything in your life, dobe."

As Naruto began to desperately tell Suigetsu how untrue that statement was, Sasuke turned once more to Sakura, "We're thinking of going down at eight. Feel free to invite any other teams, don't want it to be an Oto Uni only affair."

Sakura smiled at Sasuke, "Sure Sasuke. Can't wait."

"Soooo," Karin then said from Sasuke's side. Her chair was moved so it was even closer to Sasuke now, and at an angle pointed towards him. She was perched so far at the end of it she was basically sitting on Sasuke's. For his part, Sasuke simply looked to the girl to see what she was going to say, almost uncaring about her quite clear advances into his personal space, "How did you guys get to know Sasuke?"

Sakura and Ino shared a look, and then Ino went to answer, only for Karin to speak through her, "I met Sasuke at the start of first year because we both made it into the Table Tennis team. And then by some mad coincidence, it turned out we were living in the same accommodation bloc! We've been inseparable ever since."

As Sakura tried to study Sasuke's face, trying now to get a hold on who exactly Karin was to him through his expressions, Ino spoke out, saying shortly, "Sakura and Sasuke are soulmates."

Sakura pulled back, looking at Ino questionably. Sasuke raised an eyebrow her way. Karin looked extremely put off at first, but then noticing Sasuke's confused face, smirked.

"Well we," Sakura began, trying to save face from Ino's brash statement, one which was clearly only done to intimidate Karin, with no thought for how awkward she was making things for herself and Sasuke, "We were just good friends back in school. Along with Naruto. That's all."

Over the next hour Sakura found herself only speaking occasionally, and if ever, in answer to one of Karin's questions. Ino spoke mostly, seemingly acting as Sakura's love champion, countering every Sasuke centred story told by Karin with a Sakura and Sasuke centred story told herself. Sasuke generally seemed apathetic to the whole situation, or rather, in her studying of his face, Sakura didn't notice any particularly reaction from him. He simply sat, occasionally talking to Sakura, or Karin or Ino (or indeed Naruto, who every so often would swim over to them to ask Sasuke if he remembered specific funny memories), and soon enough, after what was for Sakura a paradoxically tense relaxation period, everybody was leaving to their rooms to wash up and kill time until the arranged beach party at eight.

"I'm not sure doing any arduous activity tonight is a very good idea Lee, what with the tournament tomorrow," Neji, towel draped around his shoulders, was saying to Lee as they and the others moved to the elevators.

"Tch, not stopping the coaches getting hammered in the bar right now," Shikamaru commented, "Coach Guy is having a drinking competition with Kakashi, they're drinking vodka out the bottle in there like no one's business."

"Coach Guy is in one of his legendary rivalry competitions?" Lee exclaimed after hearing this, "I must witness his moment of triumph!"

And with that the boy ran off towards the bar entrance.

Minutes later Sakura and Ino finally arrived back in their room, and trudging in, Ino turned quickly to her best friend the second the door was closed, drowning out Hinata and Tenten's conversation outside in the corridor.

"Well, Sasuke failed to mention **her** when you were having incredible Uchiha love sex last night, didn't he?"

Sakura frowned and went to answer, when Ino interrupted.

"Unless he did? Did he mention her? And you still slept with him? Like, what's the situation Sakura?"

"Ino," Sakura said forcefully, "No Sasuke didn't mention anything about her. But, why should he? It's not like they're…"

Sakura trailed off, thinking back to Karin's constant touching, how glued she was to him, and how in response Sasuke didn't really do… anything. It was odd. This Karin acted almost like how Sakura, Ino, and all the girls used to act around Sasuke back when they were twelve. And Sasuke himself, well Sakura supposed he acted just the same, ambivalent-come-belligerent. But still, Sakura couldn't help and wonder who exactly Karin was to the boy.

"She said she lived with him at uni, and she told us a shit load of stories about the two of them. Maybe they used to go out? No, she seemed like the kind of girl who would have boasted about it. Well, maybe it's like a friends with benefits situation with her wanting more, yeah, that makes sense…"

"Ino," Sakura said through Ino's formulations, "I'm sure she's… she's just a friend."

That sat right with Sakura. Karin was just Sasuke's friend. She hoped.

By Ino's expression however, this did not sit well with the blonde. She shrugged though, turning her back on Sakura and pulling off her bikini top to reveal her toned bare back, before moving over to her suitcase and pulling out a white top to put on.

"Well, whatever you say Sakura," she said airily, "But I reckon there's a lot more going on there."

Sakura took this comment in, and then suddenly feeling defiant, said, "Well, it's not like Sasuke and I are even a thing yet anyway. So I'm not going to waste my time worrying about how close exactly one of his teammates are to him."

Ino turned and gave Sakura a condescending eyebrow raise.

Sighing, Sakura moved to the bathroom to take a shower, leaving Ino to get changed out of her bikini in private.

Once in the shower, the hot water shooting out down onto her, splashing about against the white tiled walls surrounding, Sakura, beside herself, couldn't help but think about Karin. She still believed she had nothing to really worry about, and it was more just the innate competitive edge within Ino making her best friend say such things, but she couldn't help but wonder… should she have been more worried? Was there more 'going on there'? Sasuke was her old friend, he had invited her to the beach, he had, well they had the night before… and Sakura herself was right in what she had said earlier! She and Sasuke weren't even a 'thing' themselves. They had met each other after many years apart, sure, spent a night together, and now…

Sakura looked upwards, allowing the stream of water to cascade down against her slim neck, consumed by her thoughts, and then she spoke, quietly, so Ino could not hear, not loud enough to be heard over the showers sound.

"H-hey God, it's me, Sakura."

The girl paused, feeling herself extremely silly, but continued.

"You might not remember me, I haven't been to church since I was little… erm, sorry about that. I just thought I'd pray, for a bit, just to ask you to help me out, with my situation."

She paused again, listening out for Ino. She only heard a faint singing coming from outside the bathroom. Ino had her music on. Sakura continued.

"So, as you've probably seen, because you're supposed to be all seeing and everything, erm, I met Sasuke yesterday. And I used to be in love with him… and I'm kind of worried that I'm going to fall in love with him again… sorry about the premarital sex by the way, don't know if you like that or not but I heard you didn't so… um, basically, yeah, I was just hoping you could use your heavenly divine powers to either make me not re-fall in love with him, or maybe make it a bit easier for me this time round. Don't know if you recall but it was a bit of an unrequited love situation back in the day, but we're grown up now! So…"

Sakura felt a great relief come over her as she said all this. She clearly had needed it said aloud.

"So yeah, if you could just maybe fix this whole Karin situation soon, and also maybe, if I'm going to fall in love with Sasuke, make it a nice and cosy affair, that'd be great… thanks… um, okay, bye, bye God."

* * *

It didn't take long for evening to arrive and darkness to envelope the sky. Dressed in tan coloured shorts and a loose, pink and white patterned top, Sakura was ready to head down to the beach. According to Sasuke, it was only a couple minutes away from the hotel, back through the small nearby village. The girl felt a pang of excitement and trepidation at the prospect of hanging about with him at night again, and in the corner of her mind hoped that it could go as well as the last time.

"Kiba," Ino announced brashly as she emerged out of the bathroom. The girl was wearing a short, flowery skirt, only her purple bikini top on top, "Texted me just now saying he and the soccer guys are bringing the booze, so we don't need to worry about finding any, and Hina and Ten are waiting downstairs in the foyer with some of the guys, so we don't need to wait for them or anything."

"Great," said Sakura, sitting up off her bed, "Let's get going then."

The two made their way down to the foyer, meeting up with the soccer team plus the rest of the Table Tennis team by the hotel entrance. Sasuke and all the Oto students, Sakura figured, had probably already made their way down to the beach.

The students enjoyed the hot air yet cool breeze as they exited the through the hotel's automatic doors and out into the darkness of the night. As Ino had said, the Soccer Team carried alcohol with them, large packs of local beer in each hand, and others like Shino and Choji carried foldaway camp chairs. Lee inexplicitly had a ball, net, and poles lugged up over his shoulders, as if he had packed such items with him for the trip– clearly they were all very much up for the beach party to come.

Loudly and boisterously the students made their way through the town and down to the beach. It was a sand beach, with large rocks to the end. The Oto students were already here, milling about, some sitting down on towels, others with barbeques going, and some paddling in the dark ocean waves.

"Did anybody invite any other Konoha Uni teams?" Neji asked aloud as the group stepped onto the sand off the roadside, surveying the beach before him with a raised eyebrow.

Nobody answered.

"Great, now we're gonna look like some weirdos coming and spoiling this Oto uni beach party," Kiba sighed, arms slumped.

"Hey there guys!"

"Hey students of – hic - mine!"

The group turned to their left to see stumbling through the sand towards them were Kakashi and Guy, Asuma and Kurenai behind them watching with amused expressions.

"Coach Guy? What are you doing here?" Choji asked as Coach Guy came and slapped a hand around Neji.

"Neji, my captain. Light of my life." Guy was drunkenly slurring into Neji's face, ignoring his defender's question.

"We were invited," explained Kakashi in a disingenuously sober way as he came to a stop, "By Lee. Thanks for the invite Lee."

Lee grinned happily as everybody turned to him questionably.

"Lee, why would you invite the coaches to a beach party?" Shino asked him, and Lee scratched at the back of his head, still grinning.

"I thought it unfair to leave them out of all the fun, ehehe."

Sakura watched this is all, finding it quite amusing, but then caught over Guy's shoulder the sight of Sasuke in the distance, sitting down in the sand by a luminous fire, the figures of Karin, Juugo, and Suigetsu with him, drinks in hand.

" _There's Sasuke_ ," Sakura bent and whispered to Ino, who nodded after following her eye line.

" _Well, prepare to look like an absolute weirdo as we trudge over there with our extremely drunk coaches in toe_ ," Ino whispered back.

As Kurenai came over to talk to her team, reminding them not to stay out too late, Naruto very suddenly took off running, shouting out as he did so, making everybody else on the beach glance up at his topless form speeding off through the darkness.

"SASUKEEEEEEEE!" He shouted, sprinting off towards Sasuke and his friends at the other side of the beach, "SASUKKKKKKEEEEEEEEEE!"

"Hm? What's got into him? What's a Sasuke?" Guy questioned, jumping around from telling Shikamaru how proud he was of him to witness Naruto's figure moving into the distance.

"Let's just go over there," Neji sighed in a disheartened manner, and then moved off, leading everybody over to the Oto University students.

"Oh good, you all came," Suigetsu grinned once they were all in earshot, "As you can see the Table Tennis Team aren't exactly on talking terms with any of the other teams, so it was getting pretty lonely."

"Are they your **coaches**?" Karin asked with an arched eyebrow as the Konoha Uni began to set up shop, placing down chairs and alcohol and sitting down in the sand, around the crackling fire.

"We are!" Kakashi nodded. He blushed for some reason, eyes peering down at Karin, and raised an eyebrow, "And who might **you** be?"

Asuma frowned and tugged Kakashi lightly back, "Kakashi," he murmured warningly.

Karin herself blushed at the attractive older man's drunken attempted philander, but then after sparing a quick glance at Sasuke (who was talking with an excited Naruto) managed to compose herself.

Amongst the talking Sakura sat herself down on the sand opposite Sasuke, the fire in-between them, internally ruing the fact that Naruto had taken the free space on the boy's left. As Kiba handed out beers to everybody, she managed to catch Sasuke's eyes through the fire. He paused and smiled at her, and she felt herself blush at him taking notice.

"Sakura," he said in his ever cool yet assertive voice, "Why don't you come sit by here with me?"

"Yes, let's reunite the team!" Naruto exclaimed, moving himself up to allow Sakura to sit down in-between himself and Sasuke. Once she did Naruto flung his arms around the two of them. "Sasuke, Sakura, and Naruto back in action! This is the best holiday ever!"

Sakura smiled. Even though she had obviously hoped to spend some alone time with Sasuke, she couldn't help but feel happy that the three of them, the old group of mismatched best friends, were together once more. For the next ten minutes as Lee and Guy set up the large Tennis Soccer net, Sakura simply sat and enjoyed as, amongst the general chatting and relaxing ambience, Sasuke and Naruto bickered and bantered like old times.

"Okay!" Lee called out as he stomped over to the group, sitting about talking and drinking, "Tennis Soccer is ready. First to three, two teams, three players on each, two touches allowed and one bounce. Who is ready for the first game!?"

"I am!" Naruto roared, standing up, "And so is Sasuke!"

Sasuke looked slowly up at Naruto with a bored expression, "Am I?"

Naruto pushed out his bottom lip, "Yeah you are Sasuke. Come on, please play."

Sasuke rolled his eyes and stood up, indicating that he would indeed play.

"I will!" shouted out the drunk Kakashi, pushing his hand into the air and wobbling forwards, and at this, Guy almost squealed.

"Then so will I!" The Soccer coach cried, "You beat me in the drinking competition earlier today Kakashi, you won't win here!"

"Okay, I shall play too, so one more," Lee said, and Tenten put up a hand, grinning.

"I'll play Lee, show you how it's meant to be done."

"That is this spirit!" Lee exclaimed, "I am disappointed that you did not nominate yourself Neji, it must be said."

Neji slowly took a sip from his bottle, and glowered over at Lee, until the boy relented and turned around, throwing his arms into the air.

"Let's play!" he screeched.

"I've got to go against Sasuke!" Naruto declared as he stomped over to the net, "So I say it should be me, Coach Guy, and Lee!"

"Yes!" Lee and Guy roared together. They jumped in unison and linked hands almost like lovers, eyes sparkling into each other's.

"Don't let me down Lee! We need to beat Kakashi!" Guy exclaimed.

"I won't Coach Guy! I won't!" Lee cried back.

"Good luck Sasuke!" Karin called over as Sasuke moved over to the left side of the net, where Kakashi and Tenten waited.

Sasuke turned, but not to Karin. He turned to Sakura, and gave her a curt smile. She smiled brightly back, as Ino slid over to her best friend and Karin glowered the pinkette's way.

" _It's important to watch Sasuke here_ ," Ino whispered into her friend's ear, who jumped, as she had not noticed her arrival, " _If he actually tries hard, then it shows he's trying to impress you, which is a good sign._ "

"Go away you," Sakura laughed, and swatted at the girl like she was a fly.

"Ready?" Lee called, ball in his hand.

Sasuke, who was closest to the net, and his two team members nodded, and then Lee threw the ball into the air and with his foot knocked it over the net, calling out, "BEGIN!" as he did so.

And so the match started.

Intially quite a nice but simple rally started, with the two teams controlling and returned the ball to each other without much effort, Guy and Kakashi, both at the back for both teams, having the most trouble controlling the ball with just the one touch in their drunken states. The others all cheered and whooped as the game went on, Sakura watching mostly Sasuke. He wore the same attire he wore earlier by the pool. She enjoyed his shirt billowing up as he rushed about, the intensity in his face as, every time the ball was returned to his side by Naruto, he would rush to get to it, even if it was in one of his own team member's proximity.

"WOOOOOO, GO SASUKE!"

Ino screeched this loudly in Sakura's ear as said boy, the ball being knocked over to his side by the head of Rock Lee, knocked the ball up into the air with one foot, back to goal, and quite impressively overhead kicked the ball back over to the other side, where it landed in the sand by a useless Guy's feet.

Everybody whooped and cheered at the point scored, and Sakura could have sworn she saw Sasuke's eyes flicker to her, only very slightly, as if to check if she were watching… or perhaps that had been in her imagination.

"NO!" Naruto now roared, running over to his coach and unceremoniously slapping him around the head, "Coach Bushy brow what are you doing? That was rubbish, you can't let Sasuke score just like that."

"Naruto my lad," Guy returned as Lee ran to pick up the ball, eager for the game to restart, "This Sasuke kid is clearly a Tennis Soccer genius, there was little I could – hic – possibly have done."

"What are you talking about, he's not a genius! I'm better at this than him!"

The game restarted once more, and soon enough, after a couple minutes further of impressive rallies, Sasuke scored twice more, ending the match 3-0 to his side, all resulting in Naruto flinging himself to the sand dramatically at his loss.

"Well Guy, looks like I win again," Kakashi said as he came over to speak to Guy over the net.

The Football Coach roared in annoyance, sticking a finger into his rival's face, "You didn't even do anything Kakashi! It was all that Sasuke kid! That's it, three laps around the beach with a bottle of beer balanced on our heads, whoever arrives back here first wins!"

"Well that was lame," Sasuke said as he came and sat back down next to Sakura, as all the while the next lot of people wanting to play moved over to the little pitch Lee had created.

"You did really good," Sakura smiled at him.

Sasuke smiled back, the orange glow of the fire lighting up his pale skin. "Hn."

The two sat in what was surprisingly non-awkward and content silence for a while longer, watching as the team of Karin, Juugo, and Suigetsu played up against, and were cleanly losing against, a team of Kiba, Shino, and Ino. Karin seemed to have been distracted away from Sasuke, firstly by Suigetsu nagging her to play in order to form an all Oto Uni team, and also by Ino's sly comments about her not being good enough anyway, which seemed to have riled up the red head into playing.

At the thought of Karin, Sakura's eyes slid to side-eye Sasuke suspiciously, the boy at first not seeming to notice her gaze. Sure enough though he soon felt her observance of himself, and turned with a bemused smile to the girl, head cocked.

"And why are you looking at me like that?"

Sakura almost jumped, "Oh, erm, what?"

Sasuke raised an eyebrow, "You were looking at me funny."

"Was I?" Sakura asked, acting oblivious, "I'm not sure why I would be."

"Neither am I," Sasuke returned, still with his bemused smile.

Sakura waited a moment, hand pushed into the sand, and then said, "Sasuke. You know Karin?"

Sasuke, who had not yet stopped looking at her, pursed his lips, "What about her?"

Her eyes remained glued to her hand pressed into the sand, "Well… are you like?"

"Just friends," Sasuke said, seemingly reading the girl's thoughts there and then.

Sakura glanced up, unable to mask the flood of relief overcoming her facial expression. Inside she did a little dance, and did a mental 'told you so' to Ino.

"It's just that," Sakura went on anyway, "She's awfully," she glanced up to the girl, who was in the process of angrily shouting at Suigetsu for hitting the ball at her on accident, "…touchy with you."

"Yeah," nodded Sasuke, "She's always been like that. I'm just used to it now. Sorry, did it bother you?"

Sakura moved her head side to side, as if deliberating her answer between yes and no, "Well," she said, but then trailed off once more, leaving Sasuke to decide whether it did or did not.

"Yeah," Sasuke sniffed, "She's alright most of the time. But she's like that with me a lot. Gets worse to be honest when other girls are around," he paused then turned to Sakura with a playful yet smug smile, "Reminds me a bit of how you used to be."

Sakura frowned at his teasing, and nudged him slightly with her shoulder, "Thanks for that, Sasuke."

"Remember that?" Sasuke went on. His voice didn't necessarily sound playful, but Sakura figured he was definitely winding her up, "How you used fancy me so much? You were annoying."

There almost felt like a pang in her heart at those words. It was what he had said to her once, when she had attempted to get closer to him one time when they were younger, and he had said it a couple times since then. She hated it when he said it. Made her feel so young and naïve. He was only playing now, or so she thought, but it still hurt, whether he knew it or not.

"Well I'm so sorry I found you so attractive Sasuke," Sakura returned sarcastically, deciding for now to ignore the 'annoying' quip, "If I could go back in time I'd be sure to make myself fall in love with Shino instead."

Sakura felt Sasuke physically tense up at these words.

The playfulness of the situation seemed to suddenly be sucked away, so quickly, like water down a drain. Had she just admitted to Sasuke that she once loved him? Had he taken her words that way? They sat there, a moment longer in silence, the sound of the fire particularly audible for the two of them, when Sasuke then spoke.

"Yeah, good times."

Sakura released her held breath. If he had noticed, which she was sure he had, he had let it go.

"Well hey," Sakura said, keen to bring the conversation back to where it had been before the falling in love with Shino comment, "I hope you're not finding me so annoying now."

She didn't know why she had said that though! A lighter path of conversation was what she had been aiming for! Well, she did kinda know. It was likely because at the mention of him once finding her annoying, she suddenly felt a desperate need for him to confirm that he no longer felt that way. It was after all, quite the insecurity for the girl.

Sasuke himself seemed to turn his body fully to look at her, and then with a quiet "Hmph," he turned back to watch the match, smiling slightly to himself.

Sakura didn't know what that meant exactly.

"Hey, so what's with the coaches?" Sasuke then said, and he turned once more back to the girl.

Sakura grinned, sensing that, like the night before, Sasuke was about to engage her in a little friendly teasing of the others present. "Weird huh?"

"Yeah," Sasuke said, "Like, how come the soccer coach looks so much like Lee? And why are they both drunk out of their minds?"

"Well they've got a rivalry," Sakura explained, "It's kinda stupid really. Grown men constantly trying to outdo each other… wouldn't you say?" she added with a sly smile.

"Yeah, yeah," Sasuke nodded, knowing she was referring to his already rekindled rivalry with Naruto. He then nodded over at Kurenai and Asuma, who were sat apart from everyone else, murmuring things to each other and then laughing quietly.

"Coach Asuma and Coach Kurenai – my Table Tennis coach," Sakura explained in a hushed tone, "What'd you think? Apparently there's nothing going on between them, and even mentioning it is a ridiculous prospect."

"Oh yeah," Sasuke said sarcastically, "Nothing going on there. Can practically see cupid's arrow sticking out their backsides."

Sakura laughed loudly at this, earning a few looks from everybody else. Sasuke seemed strangely proud of his witticism, and so for the next couple of minutes the two went about making sly but mostly harmless comments about all others present, Sakura constantly having to stifle her laughter at Sasuke's dry humour. After this, and as the match being played still raged on, with Kiba constantly bumping the score limit up a couple points in order for himself to keep playing, the two eventually descended into another content silence, Sakura leaning slightly on Sasuke's shoulder. It all felt… right, again.

"Hey," Sasuke said suddenly as they watched Suigetsu fly comically through the air, only to have the ball smack him square in the face.

Sakura looked up to him, "Yeah?"

"Wanna go for a walk?"

Sakura smiled, "Sure."

And so the two stood, moving off through the sand and towards the now pitch black ocean, nobody really noticing them leave. Sasuke led her to the right, towards the large rocks, and he spoke as he moved.

"It's been really cool seeing you and Naruto again, Sakura," he said, eyes looking out across the ocean, as the waves pulled in and out by their bare feet.

"Yeah, it was such a surprise seeing you here Sasuke, and I'm just so… happy," Sakura replied, thinking that a better response then telling him **exactly** how she felt about seeing him again.

Sasuke smirked slightly as they walked, their friends' little spot becoming smaller and smaller as they moved off along the shoreline.

"I was thinking about, um, last night," Sasuke said as he moved, still not looking at his companion, "And you know, well I guess…"

Sakura looked curiously up at him. He turned his head, his mouth becoming a straight line.

"You know what, it doesn't matter."

"No," Sakura said, "Please, what were you going to say?"

Sasuke suddenly stopped dead, forcing Sakura to a quick halt too. He turned finally to look at her, and though his expression was the same emotionless one as always, there was something in his eyes, a sparkle not normally there.

"I…" he said, "Well I… remember how back in school you always used to chase me around, with Ino and the other girls, and I just didn't think anything of it?"

Sakura turned bright red and moved her eyes to the ground, "Well yeah," she said quietly, "You didn't have to bring that up again."

Sasuke laughed very shortly, "Yeah, well… You seem different from then."

Sakura looked up, and she nodded, "I- I am."

Sasuke nodded, "Yeah, and I'm different too. And basically what I'm saying is… um, I know things happened very fast the other night, and I have no idea what will happen after all of… this, but-"

He was cut off by Sakura reaching up on her toes and planting a light kiss upon his lips. His eyes widened, and he looked down at Sakura in slight shock, the girl looking coy herself under his gaze.

"Sasuke," Sakura said softly, "Would you like to spend this week… together?"

Sasuke itched at the back of his head awkwardly, a small smile on his lips, "I was trying to say something along those lines. And I was also going to say something about how beautiful you look now, and how much I can tell you've grown as a person even in the short time we've spent together, and, um," he trailed off in his classic way, his head turned to the side and his gaze avoiding Sakura's. A pink hue seemed to appear on his cheeks, which only served to embarrass the boy further.

Sakura smiled and pushed her arms to lock with Sasuke's, and the two began to move onwards once more, looking up at the thousands upon thousands of stars twinkling above them in the sanguine night sky. They engaged in playful conversation as they walked, talk about everything and nothing at all, and as they looped around the beach and started heading back towards the stretch of land where all the students chilled, Sakura realised something. Her childhood dream had come true. Within the space of an hour, her life had seemingly become all so perfect. And she was happy.

What could possibly ruin all this?

* * *

 _A/N - Yeah, so, I didn't really want the whole typical Karin rival love interest trope in this fic, but it had to be addressed anyway for plot. And as well as that, hopefully as you'll see later in the fic, it'll actually, like many things, play a part in the developing relationship between Sakura and Sasuke. Anyways, please review if you at all enjoyed, and until next time!_


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